England are on the brink of a sixth successive ODI series victory – a commanding statistic but one which had passed Bayliss by until his pre-match press conference.

“I never knew it would be the sixth in a row,” said the Australian, anxious nonetheless to see his team prove their mettle in a pressure situation to build confidence for next year’s home World Cup.

“These one-off matches, where it counts, it will be a good test for our guys – heading into that World Cup,” he added.

“The way we’ve been playing one-day cricket, and obviously playing at home, we should go into that tournament as one of the favourites.

“With that, it brings a little bit of extra pressure – having to win those one-off matches – so this is a good test.”

The pressure is largely of England’s own making, after they squandered a near impregnable position in Dunedin – by losing six wickets for 21 runs after Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root had powered them to 267 for one.

New Zealand, and Taylor especially, were therefore able to pounce.

Bayliss acknowledges the collapse was costly, but he was measured in his critique of what England insist was a “one-off” misfire from their middle-order big-hitters.

He said: “We certainly had a chat about it after the game…

“The seven or eight players in the team that can bat have all got a little bit of a different way of going about it – so (they need) just to make sure they’re true to themselves and play the best way for them.”